Cirrus@Austlit

This thesis offers a history of the confluence of forces that have contributed to understandings, representations and uses of writers deemed 'ethnic' or 'multicultural' in Australia, particularly since the introduction of the official multiculturalism policy in the mid-1970s. It examines several significant cultural arguments about multiculturalism and literature, and the connections between the psyche of 'whiteness', 'ethnic' or 'multicultural' writers and writing, government policy, and interventions by publishers, academics, and institutional bodies in Australia. It introduces contemporary authors and texts into the arena of public debate at a time when multiculturalism is in question.